By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

ALABASTER – Longtime Thompson High School band director Jon Bubbett and his wife, former Thompson Middle School choir director Jeannie Bubbett, will serve as grand marshals of the Alabaster Christmas parade on the first weekend in December.

The parade will be held on Saturday, Dec. 3, beginning at 10 a.m. on U.S. 31 south. This year’s theme will be “The Joy of Christmas,” and all floats are encouraged to incorporate the theme into their designs.

This year’s parade will follow the same route as previous years, and will begin at the Ernest McCarty Ford dealership on U.S. 31 before turning right onto Second Place Northwest, traveling down First Street Southwest and ending at the stop sign in front of Southbrook Village.

During the parade, which is organized and sponsored by Alabaster city personnel and the Alabaster Beautification Board, the two southbound lanes of U.S. 31 will be closed, and northbound and southbound traffic will be diverted onto the two northbound lanes.

The city will hold the parade rain or shine “unless conditions become unsafe for parade participants and spectators.”

The city will set up a judging station in front of the former City Hall building on U.S. 31, and floats will have a chance to conduct one-minute performances for the judges when they stop in front of the building.

After the parade, the judges will award winners in the following categories: Best Holiday Spirit, Best Use of Theme, Best Walking Entry, Most Creative and Most Entertaining.

No live Santa Claus characters will be allowed in the parade, as the city’s official Santa Claus will be riding on an Alabaster fire truck. No dirt bikes are allowed in the parade, according to information on the city’s website.